Guardians of the Night
by LiteraryWriter
Summary: Hello, if you are reading this and Fall of the Moon has not occurred then you need not worry you may stop reading at any time, but if Fall of the Moon has occurred then it may be too late to save us but if it isn't then there is not much time you may be our only hope, my name is Mark and this is my story. -opening passage from a book found in a crater in LOCATION CLASSIFIED
1. A 'Grand' Entrance

**Equestria**

 **The Garden of Dreams**

 **One week after the great disappearance**

'Who shall I bring into Equestria, so that thy children shall survive under thour protection?' Luna, The Princess of the Night, thought to herself as she tucked her children of the night for the coming dawn. 'it must be something that can guard them night or day, and care for them, just encase I am not there to do it.' she started to try and think of a perfect protector for them 'golems? no, they wouldn't love them. I cannot bring the royal guards into this, or my sister would find out. Griffins would-' her chain of thought was interrupted by a midnight blue earth pony colt starting to wake up.

"M-mama?" the colt said. wiping sleep from his eyes. "Why do you leave us?" he then trotted over to Luna with a quizzical expression.

"If I leave then bad ponies will come looking for me and take all of us apart, now go back to sleep little one." Luna cooed to the young colt. then a thought struck her, it was the last thing that her sister, Celestia, would expect, 'Humans'

It was perfect, Humans were caring to the young, very protective, and incredibly hard to kill both physically and mentally, they are just as individual as ponies, but they had no inherent ability to fly or use magic, except under _special_ circumstances and they had unparalleled mental and physical endurance. it was just _perfect_.

"Can you sing me a song mommy?" the young colt asked, as he unleashed his 'puppy dog' eyes.

Defeated Luna sighed and started to sing a little song.

 **Earth**

 **USA**

 **January 25th**

It was a beautiful night in Yolo, California.

The stars were shining, the moon was full, everyone was in their homes,everyone except me. I was driving home to my family. I was listening to the radio. I can't find any songs that I like on the radio so I listen to the news. but then I heard a song over the radio.

 _Come little children, I'll take thee away._

I checked that I was on the right frequency, and found that I was infact listening to the news station, but why was the song there? I tried turning the radio off, but the song was still playing.

 _To a wonderous place of enchantment,_

I was scared ,so I parked the car and ran. I kept running long after my car disappeared from sight, but no matter how far I ran the song wouldn't stop playing.

 _Come little children, the time's come to play_

"ARRRGGGHH! Why won't this song stop playing!? Where is it even coming from?"

I ran and ran but no matter how far I ran the song kept following me.

Suddenly, a portal opened in front of me, and I tripped and fell through the portal hitting the ground on the other side with a hard THUNK. The last thing I remember before blacking out was seeing was a starry night sky.

 _Here in my garden of shadows..._


	2. A Bumpy Road to Agreement

**Equestria**

 **Garden of Dreams**

 **Half an hour later**

"Mommy mommy who is he?" I hear a young voice say.

"Shhh Quiet little one or you will wake him." said an older female voice.

I slowly open my eyes as I feel a headache coming on. "Uhhh My head" I say as I place a hoof on my head. 'Wait, what the? a Hoof!? What happened to my hand!'

"Quick mommy look he is waking up!" says the same young voice from before.

Upon fully opening my eyes I saw what looked like a cross between a pegasus and a unicorn and a young, blue colt. 'wait blue? since when were colts blue?'

"Welcome to equestria young one" the Unicorn Pegasus crossover said smiling. 'how is she even smiling?' "I am Luna, Princess of the night." she spread her wings beaming now,

'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH'

"My name is Luke, what's your name" the blue colt, now known as Luke, said smiling at me with a pair of huge puppydog eyes.

"M-m-mark" I stuttered. I swear, those eyes couldn't get any bigger. I start to take deep breaths trying to calm myself down.

"Hello M-m-mark you have an unusual name" Luke said.

"Luke, I believe he meant to say his name was Mark. Isn't that what you meant to say?" Luna said.

"Yes, that is what I meant to say" I confirm, having finally started to calm down, as I start to sit up in the bed. "You said this is Equestria, where is that I have not heard of such a place back home, what is this place, what am I doing here, how did I get here, and most importantly of all WHY AM I A HORSE?"

"What do you mean by 'why are you a horse'?" Luke asked, while tilting his head to the side like a dog, as if being a horse was the most normal thing in the world (which considering this world it probably would be).

"You certainly do have a lot of questions and I will do my best to answer them. In regards to your first question, Equestria is not on what you would refer to as Earth, here most people are ponies. As to your second question you are in my garden of shadows, where I hide myself and my Children from those who would seek to harm us or take them away. The answers to your fourth and fifth question is that I brought you here as we could use your help." said Luna.

"So you brought me here against my will away from my friends and family just so I could help you with something that I still don't know what it is yet." I summarised angrily as I sent an angry glare towards Luna. "I still don't see why I should help you when you kidnapped me."

Luna's face turns down trodden as if she really feels sorry for kidnapping me she turns toward Luke. "Luke would you mind leaving the room; Mark and I have somethings to talk about and I would prefer you to be out of the room" Luke nods and turns around and walks to a door that I hadn't noticed before, he opens the door then leaves closing the door behind him.

Luna turns back to face me. "I know that you are angry but I wish that you will understand that I needed help so I cast a spell to seek out a human that could help take care of and protect my younglings from those who wish to do them harm. As for why you were taken that would be because that you fit the list of requirements that had been laid out for the spell to use. So you were merely chosen because of your luck." By now Luna looks so sorrowful that I almost feel sorry for being mad at her. "I cannot always be there for them as there are other duties that I must take care of in order to keep them safe. I realised that I needed help to protect them from the dangers of this world; that is where you come in Mark. You fulfilled the requirements that were given by the spell and thus were brought to this realm."

"What kind of duties are you talking about and what younglings; the only one that I have seen so far is Luke. Do you mean to tell me there are more?" I asked still pretty angry but not as much now that I had learned why I was taken.

"Yes there are 3,141,592 more younglings that are taken care of here in my garden of shadows. As for what kind of duties keep me away from the younglings among others these duties can include Raising and lowering the Moon, Night Court, watching my Sister's ponies dreams, as well as guide them through their hardships through their dreams. And I need to keep my sister from suspecting anything about this place. . My duties aren't the only thing that keeps me away from my younglings however; I am a nocturnal being and during the day I must sleep else my powers will weaken greatly and my sister will find us, undoing all my efforts to protect my younglings" Luna said with a sorrowful frown.

"Your sister? Who is she and why is she so dangerous?" I say with a confused look on my face.

"My sister is named Celestia and she is the ruler of Equestria" Luna replied with a small smile almost as if she was reflecting on good times. "I used to rule alongside her but then one day a great evil awoke and my sister and I fought back against this great evil. We won but at a great price, the kingdom of Equestria was greatly weakened as a result of the battle. In the aftermath I proposed to my sister that I go off to another land to found a great colony where the colts that I take with me will be able to grow up strong and happy, but my sister feared that this would split the kingdom of Equestria and cause it to fall apart forever. Thus she forbade me from going through with my proposition." By now Luna's smile had faded into a deep frown as she recounted what was undoubtedly a negative time in her life.

"So then what did you do; I can see that you clearly didn't follow her as otherwise I wouldn't be here. If she had forbidden you from doing so why did you do it anyways?" I asked after she had finished.

"Truly you are wise or at the very least observant; you are right I spent two days trying to choose with my mind conflicted between following my sister's orders and helping to try and save the colts who were suffering in that time. Then I decided to go through with my plan to help the fillies and colts; so one night while everyone else in the castle had fallen asleep I rose up and took the colts who were in need and who were suffering and flew with them into the night eventually reaching my hidden sanctuary here in the garden of dreams." Luna finished with a melancholy look on her face. "Well anyways that is enough talking for today I think, you need your rest and you certainly could use some time to think about my offer" Luna says as she gets up to leave.

"Wait." I say, holding a hand out to stop her before asking. "What do I get out of it?"

Luna turned back to me but before she was able to continue a loud thump and a series of loud harsh whispering was heard from the other side of the door. Luna whipped her head around and used her magic to open the door causing about 5 or 6 colts to tumble through into a heap.

"You should be sleeping young ones." Luna said while levitating them into the air.

"But Luke said that the strange pony, woke up!" said a cream colored earth pony filly

"Yeah we wanted to see him!" added a small black pegasus colt

"I put you to bed though" Luna said before turning to me and adding. "Could you help me put them to bed for the night? I will gladly tell you why I'm asking for your help afterwards."

"Fine, I suppose that I will help you put them to sleep, but I will be asking why I should help you with this after we are done putting them to bed." I replied

"Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from you" Luna answered.

"There that's the last one tucked into bed. Now why should I continue to help you?" I said after tucking the last colt into bed.

"Please follow me, I will explain upstairs." Luna replied as she walked out through the door of the nursery. I follow her after a moment of debate in my head. Luna leads me to a balcony overlooking the nursery.

"Before I answer your question, please answer one of mine. How much do you care for

the younglings below?" Luna asked

"I suppose that feel rather attached to them even though I haven't known them for even a day. They just invoke these protective instincts deep within me and I can't help viewing them as if they were my own family." I said

"I see, well the reason I asked you is because I wanted to see if you cared for them. So I will ask one more time please help me; if you won't do it for me then please do it for them" Luna said in a somewhat pleading voice while moving her head to indicate that she was talking about the younglings sleeping in the nursery below.

"Fine, I will" I said. "But only because they need me, and I am not going to let them down"

"Thank you that is all I ask." Luna said before continuing. "You should also get some rest Mark. You've had a trying night." she turned away from me and walked out into the night air, she looked back at me with a small, yet thankful smile before flying off into the night sky above.


	3. Chapter 3

**Equestria**

 **Canterlot Castle**

 **That Morning**

Celestia lay in her room waiting for her sister to come back from one of her urgent "wake up calls." It was getting a little annoying and a common thing among her subjects. "Where is she?" Celestia moaned. It was time for the sun to rise and time for Luna to lower the moon. then there is a knock at the door. "Enter." And in came Luna. "You're late, why is that?"

"A princess is never late, she arrives precisely when she means to." Luna Replies with a straight face. They both stare at eachother for a moment before they both start laughing. "I'm ready for the end of my time as princess for the night Sister." Celestia nods and they both take hold of their respective celestial bodies with their magic, moving the moon under the horizon and the sun above it.

"I know you're upset about my decision on the matter sister" Said Celestia, "but you know I needed to say 'no.'"

"I know why, but it would also help Equestria and my night would be appreciated." Luna said with a sigh.

 **Equestria**

 **Garden of Dreams**

 **Same Time**

It was quiet, almost every child was tucked in and sleeping. why almost? Well, Luke was up and about still and growing more and more tired by the minute, he walked over to me and said. "M-m-mark, what is your home like?"

"I come from a world that has many names but most just call it earth. It is a big, beautiful world and yet for all its beauty it is extremely dangerous. Since I came here I've felt lighter and stronger, it's as if the gravity is lower than that of earth. "

"Ah, so would that be a problem M-m-mark? Are you going to be staying with us?" asked Luke.

"That would appear to be the case for the foreseeable future. Oh and no it isn't really a problem at all."

"Good." Luke says before moving closer and falling to sleep.

"Well now what? " Mark asks himself as he walks out of the room quietly shutting the door behind him.

He then hears something crash in another room. He looks around before walking over to the noise. When he reaches the room with the noise he sees that he is now in an extensive library. The bookshelves were a mile high and stretched as far as the eye could see off to the leftmost bookshelf he sees a single Lavender unicorn with a blue pointed hat and a blue cape.

The unicorn was looking herself over with an expression of wonder. "I'm really here." she looks around and sees M-m-mark. "Who are you?"

It takes Mark a moment to respond. "Who are you?"

The Unicorn stared at Mark for a moment before looking at herself and replying "I'm Starswirl the Bearded."

"And why are you here?" Mark asks the Unicorn

"I could ask you the same thing." the Unicorn said with a bit of an edge to her voice

"I'll tell you after you tell me. And watch your words carefully." there was a moment of utter silence. You could hear a pin drop

After a while the Unicorn finally spoke up. "I came to speak to Luna."

"She is at Canterlot." Mark stated bluntly

The unicorn tried to recover from it. "To see the boo-"

Mark knew where the unicorn was going to go from that statement and quickly cut her off. "-Also available elsewhere"

"I'm here to check if the architecture-"

"-Everything is structurally sound and won't collapse easily. Stop lieing 'Star whirl' or whatever, you are a terrible liar. And that was obvious that it isn't your real name."

"Fine! My name is Twilight Sparkle and I time traveled back here to find out what happened during this time and try to find out what happened to this place"

"Then why didn't you say so, my name is Mark although that is all that I am allowed to tell you."

"why?"

"Luna's Orders, and you might not want to leave this room during the night."

"Again, why?"

"Lets just say, I have a very broad skillset and I'd hate for you experience the dangerous side of it." Mark spent the rest of the day telling Twilight what little he knew about Equestria (choosing to reserve his knowledge of Earth for some other time). Soon it was nighttime and the children started to wake up. Twilight heard the laughter of the young children and started to try and get closer but Mark kept getting in the way.

"Why are you keeping me from finding out where that sound is coming from?"

"Twilight, if you see, then I will need to show you my skillset in a way you'll never forget it." that got Twilight to get quiet. Suddenly Twilight's horn lit up, but nothing happened.

"Wh-why doesn't magic work on you?" Twilight sounded Panicked. A small head poked through the door and she took off toward it. Mark tried to catch her before she got out of the library, but he was just too slow.

"What are all of you doing here? What are all of you doing up so late? Where are your parents? Do they know you're all here?" Twilight turned to Mark. "Do you know about this?"

Mark nodded. "I was tasked with keeping them safe."

"Does Celestia know about this?"

"It would mean doom for them if she found out."

"But why?"

Luke trots up to Twilight. "The reason why is because Celestia isn't a nice princess. She ignored all of our pleas for help and those that she didn't ignore she took away, usually too never be seen again. Those that did come back though came back broken. T-t-they were ... different" Luke by now has started to tear up and is stuttering severely

"Why would she do that? Can I see the children?" Twilight was confused and startled at this. The notion that her mentor, the most beloved pony in equestria. Did this kind of thing to children; it was just too difficult for her mind to process or to even believe, but no child this young could fake this level of emotion.

Luke took a deep breath and shook his head calming himself down. "The ones that are still alive are only the least severe. They are kept separate from the rest of us for a reason"

Twilight was trying to wrap her head around this "Then what happened to the most severe?"

Luke looked up to the sky tears streaming down his face. "They are in mother's sky now."

It took a moment for it to click but soon Twilight was tearing up and trying to keep from crying. "Wh-what happened?"

Luke wiped the tears from his eyes. "They jumped off a cliff trying to get to the sky. But they fell to the bottom of the cliff."

"What about the pegisi?"

"Their wings were cut off for some other's sadistic pleasures." Luke's words were dripping with disgust.

' _How could Celestia let something like that happen?_ ' Twilight thought with horror

"I can show you where they are in mother's sky if you want."

"Yes please, I think that I would prefer to see that." Twilight said.

 **Equestria**

 **Guarden of Dreams Planetarium**

 **Five minutes later**

Luke led Twilight to the observatory. It was a Large circular platform on a mountainside opposite to Canterlot. The only way you would see the observatory was if you were inside it. The floor was covered in Runes and they each gave a soft glow.

"Planetarium, could you show me my brothers and sisters please?" and at Luke's request the names of every star and a picture of each filly and colt that they are for surrounded them. One in particular drew twilight's eye. It was a single star that never moved. Twilight reached out and touched the images and they expanded.

"Who is this?" Twilight asked as a small light blue pegasus filly showed up next to them. They turned to look at her and she smiled to them. The filly's voice was quiet when she spoke.

" _I'm Snowdrop. I was the first that Luna put up in the sky._ " the filly said.

Twilight was both shocked that Snowdrop was actually real, and confused as to how this was possible "Are you really Snowdrop? And if so, how are you here?"

" _I am who I say I am, and as to how I am here, the Planetarium lets me appear here so that I can talk to you._ "

"What happened to you? How did this happen to you?"

" _The last thing I remember, was having tea with Celestia, and suddenly feeling really tired._ " Snowdrop then started to fade. " _What is your name?_ "

"Twilight Sparkle." Twilight then started to flicker into and out of existence. It was time for her to go back to her own time. "Goodbye" then there was a flash of light and Luke was alone again in the Observatory. And with a heavy sigh he walks back to the others.


	4. A Change of Pace

**Canterlot**

Luna was going to the balcony to leave when Celestia came up behind her. "I thought you were asleep. It is late after all and you have a big day tomorrow"

"I know you have your reservations about the festival Luna. But I would like you to come and be apart of it."

"I am sorry sister. But the children need me this night."

"Could you skip tonight?"

"I can skip a night like you can skip raising the sun and your court. It just can't happen."

"Then may I come with you?"

"Where I go you cannot follow. For you are no powerful than a young child in the plain of dreams."

"But all you do is talk to them."

"On a personal level sister. You may have the knowledge of many scribes. But I have the ability to connect with them on a personal level. And all you really do in your court is talk to nobles and diplomats anyway." Then she flew off into the distance leaving Celestia in a mild surprise.

 **Garden of Dreams**

There was a green flash and there on the ground was a small figure. It was shaped like a pony but it had a jagged horn and bug wings. No fur, and it had holes in its legs. It had an aqua marine main and tail. Three seconds later, all the fillies and colts start to scream and run around. Mark went into get it out of the way.

'What is this thing?' Mark thought as he ran to get it out of sight.

Once he was where he was sure the Younglings couldn't reach the thing groaned, it sounded like it had several pairs of vocal cords. "Where am I?" it sounded like a little girl. Then she saw Mark. "Who are you? Why are you not afraid?"

"Oh, my name is Mark. i'm not entirely sure where we are either. And I have a responsibility. Now my turn to ask you some questions. Who and what are you? Where did you come from? And why are you here?" Mark questioned

"I am Chrysalis, Princess of the Changelings. I was just in the Badlands Hive when my Mother attacked me. My most Loyal Changeling drone teleported me here. I guess that you are the one."

"I'm not a Drone."

"I know, but please let me repay you." she wrapped her hooves around Mark before everything went black...

Mark woke up in the middle of a cocoon. He was suspended in some strange liquid. Everything was tinted green of what little he could see. He went and tried to get out of the cocoon, but he couldn't get out. So he did the only thing he could think of. Hit the wall as hard as he could.

The shell of the cocoon burst open and Mark flowed out with the Liquid. Although he looked a bit different. He now looked similar to Chrysalis. Only he was slightly taller and a bit bulkier. "What did you do to me?" Mark Demanded, he wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

"Why, your a king Changeling now. You can take a harder hit. and you have some very _special_ abilities." Chrysalis said before giggling a bit. "The Children Are safe, you don't need to worry about it. But..." ' _there are no stray thoughts in a hive mind. Your mind in particular is loud but complexed. Normal ponies have two trains of thought. And there are those like me and other Changeling queens that have three. But you… I can't begin to count them._ ' Chrysalis said over a hivemind. Though Mark was less than happy to find out that they were now telepathic.

"WTF! HOW DID I HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS?"

"It's the Hivemind dear. Now I need to teach you a few things if you are to survive like this."

"What is that suppose to mean?" the next thing he knew he was transforming into his old Human form.

This brought a grin from Chrysalis "So. Not only did I find a Good King... I found one from a Legendary species..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Chrysalis sent a mental image to Mark via Hivemind and he transformed into it.

He was now a green Unicorn with a red main. His Cuitemark was of a dagger behind a Theater mask on a shield.

' _Nice touch with the Cutiemark. You'll be ready in no time._ '

Chrysalis trotted out while speaking to him through the hivemind. ' _I'll send you the location of my new hive once everything is ready_ _.'_ then she teleported out to an almost random, well hidden location.

Just then Luna Landed outside in the middle of the field. And all the Children rushed out to welcome her.

Mark went to see her but she flailed her wings aggressively at him until he said "It's me Mark." at that she calmed down.

"What has happened to you Mark?"

"Long story short, I'm now a king of some sort. But I will keep my end of our deal by protecting the Children."

"Very well, but I wish to meet your new subjects."

'Terrible Idea Mark, don't agree to it. We must stay hidden.'

"Would two be alright with you?"

"As long as I can meet them, That is alright. Although how did you change shape?"

"A secret of my subjects. And I can't be share that secret with you."

'Good Answer.'

'Gee thanks.'

'Don't you dare take that tone of thought with Me!'

'Ok, ok, ok...'

'Good.'

Luna was right infront of mark now. "Something wrong?"

"No, just talking to my co-ruler."

"How so?"

"Thoughts are shared between us."

'MARK! Don't you even think about IT! well at least not yet anyway.'

'Wtf are you talk- oh, I see...' Mark then started to blush in embarrassment.

"Mark, could you leave us for a bit please?"

"Sure" Mark turned away and left but he still needed to know something but he couldn't figure out what.

' _Its ready!_ '

'I'll come over in the morning.'

'Alright. But you need to come over here soon.'

'Why?'

'You'll see'


End file.
